Nexus 5 vs. Galaxy S4: Review and Comparison

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Google released the Nexus 5 yesterday. For $350 off-contract, the phone offers a huge amount of bang for the buck, and will be the first phone to feature Google’s new operating system, Android 4.4 Kitkat.

Here’s our comparison of the new Android phone with last year’s big deal, the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Size, Winner: Tie — the phones are virtually identical in size and weight.

Performance, Winner: Nexus 5 — the processor is faster and its version of Android lacks ‘bloatware.’

Each phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon four core processor. The Nexus 5 has the 800 and the Galaxy S4 has the 600. They clock in at 2.26 ghz and 1.9 ghz respectively. Both phones have 2GB of RAM.

On processor alone, the Nexus 5 is faster, but Android 4.4 Kitkat will likely give an additional performance enhancement by being free of carrier modification and “bloatware.”

The Galaxy S4 will be upgradeable to Kitkat 4.4, but it will likely happen considerably after the Nexus 5 is in hands of consumer; this is a strategic advantage for Google.

A further difference is the S4’s custom “Touchwiz” interface. Some like it, and some hate it, but it may be an advantage over the Nexus 5’s feature set. For instance, the interface can automatically dial someone if you are texting them, and put your phone to your ear.

Battery, Winner: Tie — the Nexus 5 has a smaller battery, but has the same performance rating of 17 hours talk time.

The Nexus 5 has a 2,300mAh battery while the S4 has a 2,600 mAh battery. Despite this, Google alleges identical talk time.

The Nexus 5 has yet to be tested, but it stands to reason that the phone has efficiency enhancements because of the new OS and engineering innovations.